Wolosick trial focus shifts to fingernail

A broken fingernail found in the bedroom of a slain Palatine woman probably came from the friend and business partner on trial in her death, a forensic scientist testified Monday.

Ryan Paulsen of the Illinois State Police crime lab said he analyzed the fingernail fragment and concluded it probably belonged to Diana Thames, 50, who is on trial in the slaying of Cindy Wolosick in August 2005.

Paulsen also said he found a tiny amount of DNA on the fingernail that could have come from Wolosick, who was stabbed more than 60 times in her Palatine condominium.

Thames had been a longtime friend of Wolosick, 46, a speech and language pathologist at a Palatine elementary school. The women also were partners in a home rehab business that had financial problems.

The broken fingernail was a key piece of prosecution evidence, but defense lawyers used Paulsen's testimony to raise questions about the decision by investigators not to test for evidence of sexual assault.

Under questioning by Kathleen Zellner, one of Thames' attorneys, Paulsen said there was no rape test kit to analyze, nor did he test any items for a male DNA profile, including the kitchen knife used to kill Wolosick. The knife was found in the bed next to Wolosick.

Defense lawyers have argued that Thames, who spent the night in Wolosick's condo, heard a male voice after she went to bed. The defense is suggesting that investigators focused too narrowly on Thames and never looked into the possibility that Wolosick may have been slain by a male acquaintance.

Thames, who is from Bloomington, is on trial before Cook County Circuit Judge John Scotillo in Rolling Meadows.

Thames was arrested after police said she made an incriminating statement on videotape. But Scotillo ruled that the statement could not be used as evidence because it also showed investigators ignoring Thames' requests for a lawyer.

In other testimony Monday, Dr. J. Lawrence Cogan, deputy medical examiner in Cook County, said Wolosick's vocal cords were severed by the attack. She also had a contusion on her jaw and defense wounds on her arms, Cogan said.

Mike Andre, an assistant state's attorney, asked Cogan how strong a person would have to be to inflict such injuries.

"Some were quite deep. Some were in the bone, but not through the bone," said Cogan. "It's not the greatest force I've seen."